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12 July 2018

The Make Someone Happy book (and why we should all give creative journalling a go)

I find being creative with no boundaries or guidance really, truly hard. Hand me a piece of paper and a pencil and tell me to draw what I want and I'm lost. I'll dither, get anxious and end up producing something that objectively looks shit. From anyone's point of view. But, hand me some instructions, and a little extra guidance and I'm golden.

In essence, for years I thought I wasn't a creative person, but recently Jasmin Charlotte's post all about whether you think you're creative put the nail in the coffin on showing me that I actually am. Creativity comes in so many waves and forms, and it's something different for everyone. My sister's an illustrator and she hates the idea of these kind of journals, as they hem her creativity in, but I've found they truly help mine blossom.

Creative journalling has also been great for my mental health, especially with this book. It gives me a few minutes each day to zone out of life and focus on following an instruction of some variety to make something pretty and meaningful to me.

The 'Make Someone Happy' book was given to me by a friend who (rightfully) thought I'd love it. It's loosely based around the idea of sparking happiness in your community - as it says on the tin - but manages to do so in a way that cheers yourself up. Some of my favourite pages have included writing a note to a friend to keep for when they're having a bad day, and keeping a tally of how many cute animals you've seen in a day (the answer is never enough).

This book has made me smile, which I think is what's really at the core of it: sharing happiness makes you more joyful. Again, with this the little prompts were exactly what I needed to tap into the creative side of my mind. I've messaged friends and family with little messages or thoughts I had whilst filling some of this out.

Creative journalling even helps my blogging as well as my mental health. It gets my creative juices flowing without having a 'purpose': when I'm taking photos or writing posts or filming videos or editing there's always a goal in mind, but this is pure in its simplicity. This is here for me to simply enjoy and spend time doing alone, for me.

I've got a whole stack of different arty journals to dip in and out of now, each offering something slightly different, and taking the time to get involved is one of the easiest self-care things I do.

I read each and every one of your comments, and really appreciate the time you've taken to add them! If you want or need a more immediate response then contact me through my twitter @stephhartley4. Thank you!